


The Storm Before

by NervousAliceCurious



Series: Poisonous Little World [1]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series), The Mist - Stephen King
Genre: Devoured By The Mist, F/M, From Sweet To Scary In Ten Seconds Flat, Inspired by The Mist, Ordinary Day Gone Wrong, Power Down, Storm Damage, Warning Sirens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 01:23:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20958125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAliceCurious/pseuds/NervousAliceCurious
Summary: MatPat and his family go on a trip with Colleen Ballinger to the local convenience store. What can possibly go wrong?





	The Storm Before

**Author's Note:**

  * For [willowcat33](https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowcat33/gifts).

> Ohhh, I did it...
> 
> By the way, if I forgot anybody in the tags, please let me know.

“Looks like it’s gonna be another big one”.

Matthew Patrick stepped away from the window, gently shepherding his wife, Stephanie, ahead of him.

In her arms their baby child, (Sm)Ollie, was slumbering.

“Yeah-That lightning fork was no joke”.

They hurried quickly and quietly down the hallway until they reached a cellar door.

He fumbled for his keys-

“Okay-“

Inserted the teeth into the lock.

**Click!**

“Oh thank God it still works”.

Flicking on the light switch, he waited until Stephanie had descended before pulling the door closed behind him.

_It’s gonna be a loooong night…_

-

The next morning, they rose from the depths of their makeshift storm shelter to find an honest-to-gosh _tree_ peeping in through their living room window.

By which, it was_ literally_ peeping…halfway across the floor, spreading pine needles and wet all over their carpet, and TV, and all of their ‘Film Theory’ equipment-

“…WELL CRAP”.

“At least it didn’t land in the basement”, Stephanie consoled.

“I know…”

Smollie pointed at it, and said something.

-

So.

Because there was a _giant fr*n tree_ peeping in through their living room window, they decided to go outdoors and check on whatever else might have been utterly destroyed.

Exhibit A:

_Their shed._

-Which they privately called the Boathouse because one, it was stupendously close to the water, and two…everything _but_ a boat was currently squashed into it.

“There goes $350 down the drain”, Stephanie commented.

“We never used it for jaunts to the lake anyhow”.

Smollie agreed in his own language.

“Speaking of…”

She climbed over a fallen limb toward the barely-hanging on dock.

“Looks like we’ve got some mist rolling in”.

“Oh yeah?”

Matthew hopped up beside her.

“Oh. Yeah”.

“Hope it doesn’t get too bad, later…”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll thin out”.

“Reminds me of Stephen King’s book, a little”.

“You mean ’The Mist’?”

“Uh-huh”.

“…Well.

If it _does_ get bad, I’ll just invite Rosanna over here and her sunshine will frighten all those monsters back to the portal they came from”.

“Of course”.

She smiled.

“Along with Smollie”.

“Of course again!”

-

Colleen was a bit distressed.

Actually, that was a lie-

She was a_ lot_ distressed.

“Hey!”

“Hey?”

Spinning around to see Her Lovely Neighbor (A.K.A MatPat) was a welcome change in luck.

“Hey!!”

“How’s your house holding up? Our’s got treed”.

“Mine is okay for the most part…”

The new mom gestured to her car.

“Except Wilford, right here”.

Whom was currently busy being flattened by an unfortunate bough.

“Ooh…”

He winced.

“Yeah, I know”.

“Need any help getting him loose?”

“Nah, Erik and I have a date to wrangle with it soon”.

She waved a cell phone in the air.

“Okay…as long as you’re sure”.

“Don’t worry Hero Boy, I am just fine”.

He was about to head back over the property line, when an idea suddenly occurred to him.

“Hey Colleen?”

“Yeah?”

“…You want to go on a supply run?”

-

And so _that_ is how the four of them ended up all squished in MatPat’s car on the highway.

“Hi baby~” she cooed…

“Hi Smollie…!”

Stephanie leaned over from the Passenger’s Seat.

“She’s really good to him”.

“She is”.

“Think Flynn is going to love her-“

“I mean…everybody else already does”.

“Mm-hm”.

“Oh, whoa, whoa-!”

Their impromptu babysitter scootched over to the window.

“You guys see that?”

“See what?”

She looked out the glass curiously…

A line of nondescript-looking vehicles, heading off in the opposite direction.

“It’s like every old car within a five-mile radius just up and decided to appear out of nowhere”.

“Cool”, MatPat said.

“Can I get their autograph-“

“Eyes on the road, sweetie!”

“And-I-oop-“

Somehow, they made it to town in one piece.

-

“I’m gonna call Erik and let him know that I’m here with y’all”.

“Okay”.

While they headed off into the nearest convenience store, Colleen made a beeline for the nearest phone booth.

She dialed up his number, and put the receiver to her ear…

‘…’

Nada.

“Huh”.

She tried it again-

“Didn’t you hear?”

“-What?”

Alex and Lauren.

The town of Everlock’s Official Couple of the Year.

“The radio and phone connections are all out”, she informed her.

“Have been since the storm last night”.

…

Absorbing info…

Wait for it…

“Well _s*_”.

“I know, right?”

Alex smiled sympathetically.

“I heard there was still some power in the store-that’s where we’re going”.

“Cool”.

She slung the phone back in its cradle.

“Then you won’t mind if I tag along as a third wheel?”

They both chuckled at that-

“No, we won’t mind at all”.

-

The minute MatPat entered he could instantly tell:

_This_ was gonna be a fun time.

It was. _Crowded._

With _people!_

And _all_ of the checkout counters were taken.

“…Oh dear”.

Stephanie hugged Smollie closer.

He was already whimpering at the loud noises…

“We can and will survive this”, the YouTuber whispered optimistically.

“And then we’ll feed him some crushed wafers later to make up for it”.

“Deal”.

“Heyy, if it isn’t the Film Theorists!”

“Hey Shane”.

A Conspiracy-Chaser on the weekends, Shane Dawson was just as well known as the two of them, if not more so.

“You avoid losing a window to that storm yesterday?”

“Nope”.

He popped the ‘p’.

“Ooh…”

“Yeah”.

Layering a bag with foam, and then tacos, he sighed.

“Poor Ryland is gonna need a new car”.

“Him and Colleen both”.

“Oh really?”

“Wilford got treed”.

“Oof…tell her my condolences”.

“Don’t worry, I will”.

“-Oh! Excuse me…”

Someone had bumped into his arm.

“It’s fine-“

A young woman in a soft, pink sundress, blonde hair cascading down her shoulders…

“You are…?”

“Riley”.

She held out a hand for him to shake.

“And you?”

“The name’s MatPat, and this is Stephanie, Smollie, Shane-“

“Nice to meet you all”.

“Same here”.

Stephanie nodded politely.

“…You wouldn’t happen to know where the knives are kept?”

“Uh?”

Mat blinked.

“…In the back, near the kitchenette section”.

Shane shrugged.

“But I usually only work up here, so don’t listen to me”.

“Okay!”

She grinned, and curtsied.

“See you all later-or, at Shane’s register, I guess”.

“Yeah…”

As they all watched, the girl melted into the crush.

Stephanie’s eyes never left her back once.

-

“That was odd”.

“I have to agree”.

“-What was?”

It was at that moment, husband and wife both realized…they’d been overheard.

“Oh! Hey-“

“MatPat?”

“Stephanie?”

“RO!!”

“Husky!”

The Mabel to his Dipper, the Soulsister to his brother!

He couldn’t believe-

They laughed like friends who had spent _years_ without speaking!

They ran into each other’s arms, and hugged-

“Wow”.

Husky leaned in.

“They haven’t changed at all”.

“No, they haven’t”.

She grinned.

“I hear they’ve got their own greeting, too”.

“Oh I know-she told me about it, and more”.

“That right there-“

Pointing to the two of them as they chattered excitedly about the past five weeks since they’d last visited…

“_That_ is BFF goals”.

“100% agreed”.

“So…”

“So…?”

“You here for storm damage also?”

“Ohhh yeah. You do _not_ want to know what happened to the pool”.

A snort escaped her mouth.

“Oh no!”

“_And_ the gable-“

“And the gable, oh my God-!?”

“It’s…really bad”.

“I can tell!”

-The doors jingled.

“…You know those three?”

“Not a one”.

They were three women with smoky make-up and strappy, brown-furred outfits.

Talking in hushed whispers, they slid like shadows into the rear of the building…

_Unnerving_ them.

“I didn’t know the Weird Sisters lived around here”, Husky quipped.

“Neither did I”.

Then-

Store-wide applause!!

The King and Queen of Hearts had arrived, otherwise known as…

Lauren and Alex.

“Thank you! Thank you everybody-“

“We love you too…”

The former blew kisses into the crowd while her boyfriend merely waved.

And Colleen.

She didn't get any.

“Stephanie, hey!”

“Hey there, yourself.

How’d the phone call go?”

“The line was down”.

She sighed.

“D*t…”

“Smollie”, he reminded her.

“Aw, f…rench fries”.

-

At first, Safiya Nygaard wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating or not.

Was that really…

Mat and Ro?

Having a talk-a-thon over there by the creamed corn?

“…Hello?”

“Saf, you’re here!”

“SAFIYAAA!!”

Clobbered in a hug-

“Isn’t this great?”

The Baking YouTuber’s mega-watt smile was blinding.

Blindingly _cute-_

“All our friends are here in one place-“

“Except whomever that is, in the corner”.

The Cosmetics Experimentalist/Former Buzzfeed Employee surreptitiously nudged an elbow at the Walking Coat in the Gardening Aisle.

“Ooh!”

“And _this_ is the part where she introduces herself”, Mat said.

“Yup!"

-Again with the doors.

Officer Wilmer, and his terrifying girlfriend, Veronica.

“Attention everyone:”

“Yeah, listen up!”

...The loudness didn’t go down one iota.

**“ATTENTION!!!”**

Cacophony.

In the form of the lady smashing her bat onto Shane’s conveyor belt until Smollie started to **cry-**

“Can you not!?” Colleen snapped.

“Hey, don’t do that!”

Roi ‘the Daredevil’ Fabito went for the concussive weapon-

“You’ll scare everyone!”

“That’s the d* point!”

“It _did_ get us all quiet”, JC admitted.

…He was right.

Wilmer cleared his throat.

“There’s been an emergency-no one is to leave this building unless absolutely necessary”.

“What?” Joey's eyebrows were raised in puzzlement.

“Guys, I need my wigs!!” Nikita shrilled.

“I have a_ date_ later tonight!” Gabbie protested-

In rapid succession, the entire police force, emergency services, _and_ power company sped past the storefront.

“What the h*?” MatPat murmured.

“What _kind_ of an emergency?” Matt H. asked.

“Whatever it is, do I _have_ to be stuck in here with him?”

Lele shot the guy who'd just spoken a disdainful glare.

“Yes, you do”.

“You didn’t answer my quest-“

Sirens.

Long, and blaring at full volume.

“Oh my Goooddd~!!!” GloZell Green sang at the top of her lungs.

“What_ is_ that?” Oli gasped, and covered his ears.

“I don’t know I don’t know-“

Eva grimaced, pulling her hat-brim down over her own.

-The doors clanged for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Something in the Mist!

There’s something in the Mist-

Close the doors, or we’re all dead!!”

*

“My name is Arthur…”

The poor guy was heaving for breath, blood streaking his shirt and wrinkled uniform jacket.

His red hair flying in all directions, his face flushed with exertion.

“I saw them…I saw the creatures…”

-When no one moved to do what he’d said, his words became a dead-on shout:

“WHAT IS **WRONG** WITH YOU!?

CLOSE THE DOORS!!!”

I jumped.

The watering can I’d been holding clattered to the floor-

Luckily, no one noticed.

Startled into action, Tim and Alex converged on these doors, only to be shouldered aside!

“Wait, WAIT!! Don’t go out there, YOU WILL **PERISH-!!”**

But the man didn’t listen.

He tore off across the lot to his car, claiming something about ‘valuable materials’.

He wasn’t alone.

There were many more innocent shoppers hurrying to their vehicles as a thick bank of mist swept in.

Cloaking everything in sight, I heard a haunting scream-

Blood spattered all over the front windows.

“COLIN!!”

Eva’s face was wet with tears.

“No, he was HOT!!”

Lele screamed.

-Tremors…

I fought to keep my balance, but-

I and countless others were downed like simple bowling pins!

Ceiling tiles, wires, and debris cracked free, raining onto our heads.

Entire light fixtures snapped off, and plummeted-

I raised an arm to protect myself-

…

It stopped.

*

“What was that…?”

People were starting to get up.

“I don’t know-“

“Are we in trouble!?”

“I left my _cat_ at home!”

“My loved ones-!!”

“Hold on!”

The panicking voices ceased.

Someone had raised a hand.

Someone of authority, maybe?

“My mom told me the Carnival’s been bound to overheat for weeks.

The staff always tests it every 10 AM sharp-“

“Like _that’s_ what did it”, Sandra said scornfully.

The three women again…

“We know better!” Debra insisted.

“It is the wrath of the Cursed God-he has _finally_ been set free, and soon he will come for us all!” Belle intoned.

“That’s just a myth”.

“Says the Loverboy. How’s Nikita treating you?”

“Better than you’ll ever get!” the blonde sneered.

“-Leave _her_ out of this!”

“-Quite frankly, I don’t _care_ who’s right!”

DeStorm Power, interrupting them-

“I want to know if my family is safe at home, and my current transportation’s in the shop”.

“And we’re supposed to care, why?” Debra twirled a curl around her finger.

“Because I was _hoping_ one of you would be up for a drive”.

…

Silence.

Ashamed glances to the floor…

Not a single person would look him in the eye.

I _wanted_ to…

But…

“…Okay then”.

He flayed us all with a glare.

“Guess I’ll be going by myself”.

“W-wait!”

Rosanna ran out of the crowd to stop him-

“It’s not that we don’t want to help, it’s that-you could _die_ out there!”

-Or you could be too shy to ask, like me.

“Better out there, than in here with _you _all”.

He shook off her arm, and vanished out the door.

Into the mist.

-

“DESTORM!!”

_Nonono-_

_He **can’t** go out there alone, he **can’t!!**_

_He’ll-!!!_

“Rosanna-“

“DeStorm!

Come back-“

She splayed her hands uselessly against the glass.

“Mat…”

“I know…I know”.

He laid a comforting hand upon her shoulder.

“He’ll be okay…I heard Gabbie call him ‘Tough-as-nails’ once-“

“I hope so…”

_I hope so._

*

So that was that, then.

The mist had swallowed up another victim.

Right?

…Perhaps not.

There was a suspicious lack of blood spatter this time around...

…

Well, one could dream.

At any rate…what was that smell?

It seemed to be coming from one of the rear store rooms.

…Weird.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, this is gonna be fun. I have no idea what I'm doing.


End file.
